Furry friend or my extended family?

Everybody knows that the UK loves their furry friends, and with an estimated 46% of households owning at least one pet it seems an inescapable truth. Another unavoidable milestone when first taking home your new best friend is their new name. Some may take the traditional route with Spike for a dogs' name, or Whiskers for your favourite cuddly cat.

However, in two separate recent studies from surewise.com, UK pet owners were found to be far more likely to share their companions name with that of their children compared to US counterparts.

The survey also suggested that UK parents are becoming Mothers and Fathers to their pets, with accessories such as clothes, toys and even houses for your little helper.

From a study of 6276 pet owners living in Great Britain the most popular names for their dogs were Alfie, Charlie and Oscar. The same survey also found that the same three names were most popular amongst male cat owners. In 2014 research found that two of the most popular baby boy names were Charlie and Oscar.

There is a similar pattern when it comes to female felines with the most popular names for both Cats and Dogs Bella, Molly and Poppy. The same 2014 survey also showed that two of the most popular baby names that year were Poppy and Bella.

Interestingly, the surewise.com survey on pet names found a growing number of pets being named after Star Wars characters. It seems that new pet owners couldn't resist naming their new family addition after the huge blockbuster release, after all feeding your own Yoda would be interesting.